Employment here flat over 10 years, report shows

Employment in the Rochester market was flat for 10 years ending in 2012, lagging state and national increases, and it declined slightly over the last five years, a report released Friday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli shows.

Rochester’s 10-year unchanged performance trailed growth of 3.99 percent in the state and 2.52 percent nationally, the report shows. Its five-year decline of 0.33 percent compares with statewide growth of 0.75 percent and a national decline of 2.84 percent.

The market’s private-sector jobs declined 0.37 percent in the last five years, with goods producers falling 15.4 percent and government jobs unchanged.

The Ithaca market set the pace statewide for 10-year job growth at 12.4 percent and for private-sector growth at nearly 12 percent, the report shows.

New York City ranked second with total growth of 8.3 percent and private-sector growth of 10.5 percent.

Kingston’s 10-year decline of 7.1 percent was the steepest among 14 metro areas in New York; Binghamton was next with a drop of 6.5 percent. Binghamton’s five-year decline of 5.8 percent was the greatest, followed by Kingston at 5.5 percent.

New York added 110,000 jobs from June 2012 to June 2013, trailing national growth rates for the first time in the last six years, DiNapoli said.

“The good news is that New York’s job count has increased above its pre-recession levels,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The bad news is that over the past year we have fallen short of the national growth rate in several major employment sectors.

“New York, like much of the nation, is still struggling to generate the well-paying, secure jobs.”

The state’s financial services sector—including finance, insurance, real estate and rental activities—employs 9.5 percent of its workforce and contributes more than 27 percent of its economic output, the report shows.